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SECTION:
The Mountain as the Axis of the World in Comparative Mythology
Chair of the section/Suggestions, Abstracts, Contributions to:
Email: Juri Mosidze (Tbilissi)
Myth is a deeply ingrained reality, which never dies and continually predetermines the intellectual reality of every language and every culture. The entire sacral-semantic field "of the mountain" appears as a sacral center between different mythical levels.
Among the Georgian tribes the mythic model of the construction
of the world ever since the Palaeolithic period has been based
on the principle of the cross. According to this model, there
are on the vertical axes of the cross three worlds (georg. "skneli",
anord. "
"):
The first world "seskneli" - the upper world, that is,
heaven, which was inhabited by gods, magical beings and birds,
the second world "skneli" - the earthly world, the middle
world (in Georgian "quekana" means literally the lower
field, que - means under, kana - field), the dwelling space of
human beings, in which animals and plants also are given their
own place; the third world "queskneli"- the underworld,
the underground world, the world of the dead and the place where
the dark and evil powers rule. Each of these worlds possesses
its own color in Georgian mythology. The upper world is white,
the middle world - red and the lower world - black. On the horizontal
axis of the cross there are three more worlds. In the center of
the cross one finds again the middle world, that is, the human
dwelling space. First comes the front world, the world of prosperity,
behind it, however, the back world, the world of need and hardship,
a dark, secret world. This system is encircled with eternal darkness
- with the "outer world." The last three worlds are
also represented by corresponding colors: The "front world"
is yellow, the back world dark blue, the "outer world"
smoke colored.
On the vertical axis of the cross are good (upper world) and
evil (lower world), which exist in the world independent of human
beings. They are separated from one another by air and earth,
which humans cannot overcome. That can only be attained by the
will of the highest powers, by transformation or death.
The worlds situated on the horizontal axes - the "front world"
and the "back world" - are the expression of the existence
of good and evil on earth. For that reason they are separated
from each other by mountains and lakes. The point where the good
and evil forces collide is the center of the cross, that is, the
dwelling space of human beings.
Among the Germanic tribes, the idea of eternal space prevailed,
the idea of infinity. They had not yet formed the meaning of the
word "world." "hwer", "wer" meant
"human being." But in this infinity, WALHALLA, including
its inhabitants, is concretized. They are: air and fire (Donar),
earth (Fria), water (Rahana); the good (Froa), beauty and sadness
(Balder), fate/lot (Freuwa), destruction and death (Loki), prosperity
(Sippia) and the Germanic Zeus - Wodan, which, in contrast to
Mount Olympus, is much higher and represented in dark, unattainable
Faustian realms.
The mythic model of the world's formation is represented among
the Germanic tribes by various "":
- the upper settlement
(dwelling place of "assen")
- the middle settlement
- (dwelling place of human beings)
- the lower world.
In this system the human being is a vegetative part of the world. Of their own body parts humans designate the head as heaven, the fingers as branches, water as the blood of the earth, stones and cliffs as bones, grass and forests as the hair of the earth, etc. This system is completed also by the eternal freezing and ice - the "great desert" (Ginungagap), which permeates the represented chaos with magical energy with the aim of creating a new order.
As we see, the models of the world among the Georgian and Germanic
tribes are similar:
The common projected world, which the Indo-Europeans and the forefathers of the Georgians shared, determines the mythological particularity of the common sphere of culture.
"The mountain" with its social-cultural and symbolic importance in this common Pantheon is inexhaustible.
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